


Stonebirch Asylum

by MourningStar50



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25252357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MourningStar50/pseuds/MourningStar50
Summary: Hermione has spent the past two months in Stonebirch Asylum. Her stay has been pretty unremarkable thus far.... that is until she meets the latest resident to join.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 26
Kudos: 70





	1. An Unexpected Resident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: These characters are the property of JK Rowling. I am just playing with them ;-)

Hermione sat glaring at the greying, middle aged man, peering over his black spectacles and smiling slightly.

Hermione knew that the man thought he was showing empathy and warmth, but really that small smile as he sat with his clip board, was just condescending. Everything about her experience so far at Stonebirch had been condescending.

Since she had first been admitted to the asylum she had refused to speak. She wasn’t interested in trying to engage with those pathetic smiles, or in responding to the constant question – how do you feel about that – asked a multitude of different ways. There was no point to the circular, inane conversations that these people tried to initiate. Nothing was going to change the way she felt. The events of the past could not be undone, she just wished she could be left alone to deal with her emotions as she saw fit. 

Despite her apathy and unresponsiveness, Dr Brewer insisted she sit in his office every day for the whole hour that she was supposed to engage in the therapy, even though she did not engage at all and had not for the past two months that she had been there. He obviously thought she would crack or something. She wouldn’t. 

“I’m sensing a lot of anger, Hermione, in your body language”.

No shit Sherlock, she thought, I’m being held here against my will. She knew better than to be drawn into any sort of conversation. They used anything you said as a way in to get to you and start dissecting your brain like they knew best. 

He continued to stare at her. She looked out the window and tried to think about she would pass the rest of the day after dinner. Maybe she could spend time in the gardens if it didn’t rain. The sky did not look promising. 

As she looked around for the clock to check how much time was left, the door flew open and Dr Steiner came rushing in. She was gasping for breath and appeared to be crying.  
“Dr Brewer”, she gulped, “I- I’m so sorry to interrupt. I- I can’t continue with the patient next door”. 

“Ophelia”, Dr Brewer said, getting up from the chair he was seated in, “what in merlin’s name has happened?” He leaned to the side a bit to peer into the room across the hall from which Dr Steiner had just fled.

Hermione tentatively got up from her seat too; curious to see what the commotion was all about. Nothing interesting ever happened around here. 

“He- He’s just so horrible. The things he says are so mean, and he knows it!” The woman sobbed. “I can’t work with him, there’s nothing I can do to help him”. 

“Well now… that’s not entirely true now, Ophelia… is it?” A deep, bass, voice followed after the doctor from across the corridor. “I’ve made a number of… suggestions… that I would find very helpful”. 

Hermione frowned slightly at the familiarity of that deep voice. No. It can’t be. 

Then she peered around the doctors standing in front of her to get a peek at who it was, and her eyes widened in shock. It was. 

Severus Snape was standing framed in the doorway opposite across the hall with a sardonic smirk on his face.


	2. A Most Reluctant Resident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the feedback :-) This my first fic.  
> I like the idea of a psychologist trying to solve Snape, hence the inspiration for the fic. I don't think anyone would be equal to the task!

It had been three days since Severus Snape had been brought here against his will. Three days in this dank, miserable shithole. The woman across from him was still trying to conduct an assessment to no avail. Why she persists, he has no idea. She seemed more like the one in need of psychological help. The woman was a bigger mess than he was, and she was in complete denial about it. He knew what his issues were and he knew what the solution was. He didn’t need anything from these quacks calling themselves doctors. Damn you Minerva. 

The shabby, little wallflower fumbled around with her paperwork for a couple of minutes. She clearly had nothing useful written down. Maybe she was hoping to find courage on the pages. She eventually looked up and met his eyes. He had sat studying her the entire time and was giving her the most withering gaze possible with glittering, black eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but he decided to cut her off.

“Just… desist already… Ophelia,” he murmured, enunciating each word. “Watching this shambolic performance is…. almost…” and he smiled, “painful”. 

She held one hand, palm up, in a sort of weak stop signal. 

“Severus…” she began in a pleading voice.

“Desist”, he said softly, his voice dripping with malice. “I strongly advise it. And it’s Professor Snape to you”.

“Very well”, she snapped, “you are not a professor here in this institution so I will call you Mr Snape. I know you do not want to be here, very few patients who have ever been brought to the facility have wanted to be here, but in time they come to understand that the treatment they receive here helps once they engage, and then they get on with the rest of their lives if they are fit to be signed off”. She talked hurriedly, desperately trying to get out every word while she could. 

“I strongly advise engaging with these sessions, Mr Snape”, she continued snappishly, “or your stay here is likely to be of some duration. And you may address me as Doctor Steiner, not Ophelia”. 

Snape’s lip curled as she rambled through her little lecture. “I would address you as doctor, if you were actually fit to be one, Mrs Steiner – or is it Ms Steiner?” He raised an eyebrow and darted his eyes deliberately at her left hand ring finger that had an indent from a ring that was no longer there.

“Clearly, in addition to being an absolute quack, unequal to the job you have been given, you are also a psychological disaster site. Your husband has left you, you’re drinking like a fish, you dress like a frigid 80 year old spinster whose hobbies are crochet and hunting game, you’ve clearly forgotten what a hair brush is for amidst the fog of your gin addled brain, you’re behind on the quack papers you are supposed to be writing for some sad pseudo-journal probably titled ‘You’ve got a friend in me’, and you are worried that you will never be fucked again now that your husband has left you when you should be more concerned about the fact that you spent 20 years with the imbecile and you’ve never been fucked right.”

The mousy woman stared at him, lip trembling slightly, eyes wide. She looked like she was going to cry but she didn’t. He knew he should feel bad, maybe he had gone too far, but really if you are going to try to poke around in other people’s heads then fair is fair. 

“How do you know I have- had a husband? How do you know I was married for 20 years?” She said, eyes still wide. 

Snape didn’t answer, he just stared at the dunderhead incredulously. 

Her hand flew to her mouth suddenly as she gasped… “You’ve been using legilimency on me!” She exclaimed. “But… but you don’t have your wand. Wands are confiscated on arrival…” She looked at him as though he might be some how concealing it somewhere. 

“Surely… someone who claims to be an… expert … in the workings of the human mind knows…. That one does not necessarily need a wand to perform legilimency…” Snape murmured. “And I am an excellent legilimens… surely you know that I fooled one of the greatest wizards of all time… using… legilimency…” Merlin. How did this crackpot ever qualify in whatever psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo she claims to practice. 

“I- I- How- How dare you!” she exclaimed. 

“Before you get your old lady knickers in a twist about it,” Snape said, “I wasn’t trying to examine your mind… Believe me… if there is any where I would prefer to be even less than this office… it would be stuck in your wretched mind. Your thoughts are poorly contained, Ms Steiner. You are practically screaming them at me. All of the gin you have been drinking is not helping you master them.” 

Her wide eyes looked like they were filling up. For fuck sake. 

“I have a suggestion…” Snape murmured in a softer tone. “Lock the door… pull the blinds… and bend over your desk. I’ll fuck you properly… like your selfish husband never did. “ He raised his eyebrows at her. In truth, if she did run a brush through her hair and lost the old lady hunting skirt, she would be moderately attractive.  
“How dare you!” She exclaimed again, louder than before. She looked aghast, eyes practically bulging out of her head. She reached for a glass of water and took a sip. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to him. “You will not provoke me.”

“Oh but I already have, my dear lady…” Snape murmured, his voice even lower than usual. “Admit it, you thought about it for a second…”

The woman narrowed her eyes, her nostrils flared. She looked angry.

“Mr Snape, I am a psychologist. My job is to help those struggling with their mental health through a combination of means such as talking therapy, medication, art therapy, and physical exercise.” Her eyes narrowed further as she took in her patients smirk as she mentioned physical exercise.

She continued, “This does not include activity of sexual nature, as you well know. I would ask that you refrain from such lewd, disrespectful suggestions, and again, I implore you to engage with the treatments that you are being offered, which will help you”. 

“Ms Steiner,” Snape replied in his deep voice, “as you well know… if you are a properly qualified psychologist…. The founding father of psychoanalysis… Signmund Freud… asserted that the route of all struggles with one’s… mental health… or hysteria as he named it… is sexual in nature”. He smiled malignantly at the woman. 

“In fact, at one point in his career… he posited that not only women suffer from… hysteria… but men also may be afflicted by it. Further to this… not only is the cause of hysteria… sexual…. But the cure for it is also… sexual…”

The doctor choked slightly as she was taking another sip of water. She tried to speak, but Snape continued.

“Women used to visit their… doctor… to be relieved of their symptoms. Hand jobs are a… long established… form of treatment in your field. Perhaps you could give me one… if you are not amenable to my first suggestion. I assure you… I would find that kind of treatment to be the only useful kind you can offer me… while I am forced to remain in this… shithole…” 

The woman suddenly stood up. Her face was flushed with anger as she looked down at him. “Mr Snape! I have politely asked that you refrain from making sexual suggestions to me, it is completely inappropriate and disrespectful to me.”

“Ms Steiner”, he replied, “please allow me to assure you… my intent is not to disrespect you… your odious, thin-dick husband did that for long enough… stop with this charade of outrage… take those ugly spinster clothes off… and I promise that disrespect is not the feeling you will be leaving this room with…”

Snape genuinely wondered if she might take him up on his offer. Despite the outrage he could sense a flicker of curiosity in her mind when their eyes met. Given his forced stay at this place, she might be the only good option he would find for a fuck. It would certainly be a much better way to spend his therapy sessions, and he was certain he could probably fuck her into signing him out of this shithole asap. The woman had probably never had an orgasm in her life. As her eyes began to fill up again, it became clear this was not going to happen. This time she did start to cry.

She turned suddenly, opened the office door, bolted across the corridor and into the room opposite. 

He stood up to get a better view as one of the other doctors he recognised rose from his seat.

He heard her sob, “Dr Brewer”, she gulped, “I- I’m so sorry to interrupt. I- I can’t continue with the patient next door”.

“Ophelia”, he heard the man say, ““what in merlin’s name has happened?” The man leant to the side to peer into the room at him. Snape glared back at him, with a smirk on his face. 

“He- He’s just so horrible. The things he says are so mean, and he knows it!” The woman sobbed. “I can’t work with him, there’s nothing I can do to help him”.

“Well now… that’s not entirely true now, Ophelia… is it?” he called after the doctor across the corridor. “I’ve made a number of… suggestions… that I would find very helpful”.

Wow. Snape thought. I really have broken her. He thought it would take longer than three days – if she wasn’t interested in coming round to this way of thinking, that is. 

Suddenly, his smile faltered somewhat, though he continued to glare as menacingly as he could.

Another person in the room had risen from a seat to peer around the two doctors. 

Snape found himself glaring at the Granger girl.


	3. Stones and Glass Houses

Hermione gasped. What on earth was he doing here! She was now only faintly aware of the commotion going on in the room in front of her, as she tried to process what – no who – she was seeing. She blinked hard and he was still there. 

Dr Brewer and Dr Steiner brushed past her as they made for the seats. Dr Brewer coaxed Dr Steiner to sit down and handed her the box of tissues that were always sitting there like some weird reminder that she ought to be crying about something. The woman sat and blew her nose as Dr Brewer turned to assess the situation.

“Right” he muttered “Right…”

“Hermione, Severus”, he looked at back and forth between each of them, “if you will follow me, please”.

“It’s Mr Snape”, Snape drawled, but followed the man as he started off down the corridor with Hermione in tow. Her feet seemed to be moving of their own accord, she felt like her brain still wasn’t really working. 

The Doctor stopped at the locked door out to the gardens and opened it with a flick of his wand. I guess I will be getting out today after all, Hermione thought. When all three of them were outside, Dr Brewer turned to them.

“Hermione, I apologise for having to cut our session short”. Hermione snorted. Snape’s eyes briefly darted to her when she did so. “I must attend to Dr Steiner now”, he said, his eyes lingered briefly on Severus. “You may go for a walk, get some fresh air, enjoy the gardens for the rest of the afternoon, and we will talk again soon about how best to progress from here”. His eyes lingered on Snape.

“I can hardly contain my enthusiasm”, Snape drawled in his deep voice, “in fact the excitement may be too much for me…. I may just come without Ms Steiner’s help…” He smirked. 

Hermione’s eyes widened, she couldn’t believe what her old potions teacher had just said. The sarcasm and the sneer she expected, but not that kind of language. Dr Brewer did not look impressed. He seemed to purse his lips, before turning sharply heading back for the door to return inside. Hermione turned slightly, wondering what to say to her former teacher, but he was gone, his dark form was already making its way over towards the stone fountain in the courtyard where he leaned against a pillar, arms crossed.   
What in Merlin’s name was she to make of this? What was she to do? Ignore him and pretend they didn’t know each other? That seemed just silly even though that is exactly what he seemed to be intent upon doing when he skulked away. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severus Snape leaned against the cold stone pillar, staring at an old fountain and listening to bubbling of the water as it frolicked about in the large stone basin surrounding it. What the hell was that girl doing here? Of all the fresh hells that could come to him, he had now discovered new depths of torture to contend with in this horrid shithole. He stormed off quick, black robes billowing behind him, before she could have a chance to begin questioning him. She had looked shocked when she first saw him, and even more shocked at what he had said to Dr Brewer. Perhaps that would be enough to convince her it would be a bad idea for her to approach him. It had been 10 years since he was her teacher, she wasn’t a student anymore, he could say what he liked. He wasn’t a double agent anymore either, existing within the strict confines of that dark role. He could behave however he liked now too. 

He stole a glance from the corner of his eye to where she had been standing, half expecting to see her making her way towards him. He expected it because that was the nature of the fuzzy headed little know-it-all. No matter how often he cut her with his words when she was his student, she would still keep coming back with her incessant questions. Why would today be any different?

Well… it seems today is different, Snape thought to himself, as he stared at her retreating form as she walked off in the opposite direction. 

As she walked off, he took the opportunity to take a proper look at her. She was thin, very thin, and she didn’t have that preppy school girl pep-in-her-step anymore. That frizzy, fuzz pot wasn’t so frizzy or fuzzy anymore either, he mused. Perhaps she has learned how to make a decent serum that would work to tame her hair. It took her long enough, she never lacked in ability. Pot, kettle, dickhead, another voice inside his head muttered, it took you most of your adult life to be arsed making something to dry up your greasy head, leave the girl alone. 

“Oh for fucks sake”, Severus muttered out loud.

A figure moved into his field of vision. He turned his head slightly to see who it was. A squirrelly looking little man was looking at him. He had a nervous twitch and watery eyes. He reminded him of wormtail. 

“What’s the matter?” He squeaked.

“Besides… the… obvious?” Snape narrowed his black eyes as he glared at him, with his arms gestured to their surroundings. “Nothing… just talking to myself.”  
The squirrel creature twitched and opened its mouth to say something else. 

“My name is-“

Snape cut him off. “Fuck off…. Now… Squirrel Man.” He demanded, his voice dripped with loathing.

The little man cowered, twitched some more, squeaked and then ran off. 

He turned his attention back to where Granger had been. She was gone, further off in the distance now. She had headed towards one of the walking trails and was becoming smaller by the minute. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione had made her way over to one of the walking trails. She figured she could get one lap of it done and circle back to the courtyard before it started to bucket down, as the sky still looked like it was threatening to do. She had momentarily debated whether or not to just say hello to make things easier in here, but when had Severus Snape ever been interested in making her life easy. The man used to deduct house points from her for correctly answering questions. He made the choice to walk off rather than exchange pleasantries so why should she bother. If the crying doctor and his retort to Dr Brewer was any indication, he had not improved in the past ten years. Approaching him would be like walking towards a rattle snake and expecting not to get bit. 

She breathed deeply, determined to take in the sights and sounds of nature. This was the best part of her day now. The only time of day when she could get some solitude without feeling like she is in a prison. 

She walked and walked and walked. She must have been in a deep reverie because the sky seemed suddenly so dark and she had barely registered it happening. The sky opened up with no warning and the rain came pelting down. It fell so hard it was painful against her skin, even through her white shirt. A flask of light streaked across the sky. Oh no, she thought. Seconds later, loud crashing thunder roared across the sky. Through the shrubbery, off the path a little, was a stone gazebo. She headed towards that to take shelter and wait for the storm to pass. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sky looked dark. It was getting moodier and moodier. It could almost out-mood you, the snide voice said. Shut up, Severus thought to himself. 

There was clearly going to be a storm, he could feel it in the air, and Granger had taken off by herself for a long walk. Damn it, he thought. He should try to catch up with her and tell her to come back immediately. Why though, he thought, those brats are not my responsibility anymore. Severus sighed, damn it. 

He sprung up off the pillar and made for the trail Granger had followed. He took long strides and walked briskly. Despite not being particularly athletic – he had never been a fan or player of quidditch and never would be – but he always walked every day, and he did not over eat, so he was leaner and fitter than most people would assume. 

Without much preamble, the sky opened up and bucketed down. He was sodding in no time, dragging his sopping cloak behind him. Stupid girl, he thought, gritting his teeth and carrying on. With no wand there was not much he could do about the predicament. He could perform some spells without his wand but repelling the elements was not among them. He could dry his clothing when the downpour stopped. He continued to walk for a while, until he heard coughing. Turning to his right he saw a stone gazebo through the shrubbery and then he heard the coughs again. He stomped through the mushy, long grass and came to the entrance of the gazebo. 

She was sitting on a stone bench inside, sopping wet as well. She looked even skinnier with her wet shirt clinging to her. She clearly wasn’t eating much of late. The shirt also clung to her breasts, which were surprisingly full for someone so clearly underweight. Not a student anymore, he kept telling himself, not a student anymore. She had her head bowed as she coughed again into her arm. He stepped inside the structure to take cover from the pelting rain and leaned back against the pillar. She seemed to register his presence, as she seemed to freeze in position, her eyes fixed on his black boots and the bottom of his wet cloak. 

“Miss Granger”, he stated simply in his deep, reverberating voice. 

She looked up, her eyes questioning. “Professor Snape”, she said back. “What are you doing here?”

“Well… being the idiot that you are…. you decided that taking a long walk into a thunder storm would be a grand idea… and being the idiot that I am…. I tried to catch you before it started….” 

“I- I- I thought I would miss it…” She trailed off weakly.

“Ob-vi-ous-ly, you were…wrong” He drawled out slowly. 

“But… what are you doing… here?” She almost whispered.

Snape drew himself off the pillar, looking down at her from even higher up, then sat down beside her on the stone bench, about a metre apart from her. He narrowed his black, glittering eyes and leaned towards her slightly. “What are... you.... doing here, Miss Granger?” He cocked an eyebrow and half smiled.

“I- I- Well, I….” She didn’t know what to say in response, she felt stumped. 

“Well, then…. It would be wise… not to ask questions… you do not want to answer… yourself… Miss Granger.” Snape glowered at her.

He had a point, she had to admit. It was thoughtless to ask other people in a mental asylum what they were in for, never mind Severus Snape.   
She tried to apologise. “I-….”

“We mustn’t through stones…. inside glass houses, now… should we? The result… would be…. unpleasant… for all.” Snape enunciated every word. 

“Professor, I’m-“

“Come”, he snapped, “the worst of the storm has passed”. He rose from the stone bench, and seemed to mutter something under his breath. Hermione felt a warm breeze and then realised her clothing was now dry-ish.

He raised his eyebrows at her, as she looked at him. “It is the best I can do without a wand”, he said. “You will need a coughing draught when you get back if you don’t want that cough to firmly take hold”. 

With that he turned on his heel, black robed billowing and began striding back through the marshy grass, and back on to the trail. Hermione tried to keep up and followed him back down the path the way she had come. There was only a light drizzle now. She hadn't registered when the rain had abated, but clearly that man misses nothing. 

She stumbled a bit and cursed. His head seem to move to the side slightly at this. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but she suddenly thought that maybe he had shortened his strides somewhat.


End file.
